Korean Differences
A list of differences I noticed between Korea and Canada that I noted while there on business.
Seoul
Well I’m currently blogging from South Korea!
Seoul is a pretty intense place, and we’ve only explored it in tiny amounts so far. After a brutal 18 hours in airports and planes we arrived in the early evening. I was surprised that my CDMA blackberry roams here (no data though). So I didn’t need to rent a handset. The airport was overall very efficient and we were out within 30 minutes after landing, which was a nice reminder on how horrible and inefficient most Canadian airprots are (as well as Canadian Border Control). A quick bus ride to our hotel and we ventured out to the small roads behind our hotel, where we found a local korean grill house. For those who don’t know, many korean restaurants actually bring the raw meats to you and they are cooked in front of you on a gas grill. The meats are marinated and absolutely delicious.
Malta and the Tribulations of Travelling.
I get to travel with my job. It is both a blessing and a curse that can take it’s toll on a man. The positives are obvious. I get a paid trip to wherever they send me. I can expense things like meals, cabs, etc. I usually squeeze time to take in some sights and wander around. Some of the places, like Curaçao, I’d never go to otherwise. This is really cool, as it’s something unique that I can talk to people about. However, the negatives also weigh in. It can get very lonely. After a few days, you start to feel down, wanting to spend time with people. Whenever I end up in London, there’s plenty of people who owe me beers and I have a grand social time. Most of the other sites I’m usually by myself in a data centre carrying out work on our systems. You get sick of eating out for every meal of every day. The schedules are killer. For days that I’m working, it’s usually 14+ hours. I miss my girlfriend. She misses me. I miss my cats, my friends, decent coffee, and on and on.
Curaçao
Well, I’m now working in Curaçao. The plane ride was pretty smooth, except having to run through the mess that is Miami International to make my connecting flight. I’d post pictures, but Microsoft sucks so much that it can’t get Windows to understand my camera’s RAW format and I wish I had my mac.
The hotel is a million times better than the last one I stayed at. Ocean view, awesome service, I arrive, somebody takes the car, offers me drinks while they get my room ready, take my bags behind my back and there they are in the room…